


Sometimes You Screw Things up for the Better

by jacquelee



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 05:59:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16191512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: Ava Sharpe does not screw up. She never had and she thought she never would. Except now, she screwed up big time and the only way out is to do something completely against regulations, something she never thought she would do. But for some reason, it turns out to be exactly what she always wanted.AU in which the first meeting between Ava and the Legends goes differently.





	Sometimes You Screw Things up for the Better

**Author's Note:**

> I started this fic some time at the beginning of this year and then stalled because I didn't know Ava's background and they were hinting at something and I just didn't know what to make of it. I'm glad I took a break because now I could work subtle hints in that her memories are fake.
> 
> I will most likely expand on this and then her being a clone might be more of a thing, but for now, Ava is a clone but nobody except for Rip and probably Gideon know, as of the status quo in the show at the beginning of season 3. The "AVA's are not supposed to feel" bit will not come up other than that Ava of course has feelings. She showed feelings from literally the first scene we saw her in, so...
> 
> This is a bit of a crackfic but I also can imagine Ray acting like this.
> 
> I wrote more than half of this for [Lands of Magic](https://lands-of-magic.dreamwidth.org) on dreamwidth for a challenge to finish WIP's.

Agent Ava Sharpe did not screw up and she did not panic. Ever. Her plans were always thought out to the millisecond, taking into account every detail. Her contingencies had contingencies. Making one hundred percent sure that nothing ever went wrong was who she was, her very nature. 

Except right now, everything had gone wrong. She had screwed up majorly. And she was definitely panicking. So much so that she wasn't able to do anything other than staring at the two people in front of her who had so suddenly appeared that she was wondering whether they had used some sort of superpowers. 

But she knew that was not the case, no, this was not their fault, it was hers. If she hadn't been so absorbed in the files she had been sent here to check on, she would have noticed them coming in. It was very disconcerting, knowing that she had brought this on herself because she had been so fascinated with the Legends' adventures and now she was standing in front of one of them, having no idea what to do or to say. 

All these thoughts had taken about a second in which both parties just stared at each other, open mouthed. Funny enough, even though she praised herself for her good reflexes and ability to adapt to every situation, it was not Ava who first overcame her shock. 

It was the woman she recognized from the files as Felicity Smoak, who now took a few steps backwards, fumbling for her phone. 

"Ray, I take it you don't know who that is?" Mister Palmer apparently had a harder time to recover and simply shook his head, still rooted to the spot. Miss Smoak now looked at Ava directly. "What are you doing here? Did you break in? Of course you broke in, what else? Were you stealing Ray's files? Oh, my God, you're a spy! You wanted to steal his inventions? Don't move! I'm calling the police! Ray!" 

Neither Mister Palmer nor Ava moved while Miss Smoak uttered all of this in a tempo that made it hard to follow even a word of what was said. Ava finally took a step forward, holding up both hands, still completely at a loss as to what to do, but knowing that she had to do something, anything.

If they called the police, the Time Bureau risked exposure to the public, risked losing everything they had worked so hard for. And Ava risked her spotless record, more even, the one place she had truly called home for basically as long as she could remember. She couldn't allow that.

"Wait! Please, don't call the police." 

"Don't come any closer!" 

"Felicity, wait." 

Finally, Mister Palmer seemed to have recovered from his shock. Ava wasn't sure what he was going to do but anything that didn't involve calling the police right at this second gave her time to somehow talk her way out of this. 

Miss Smoak was now looking confused at Mister Palmer. 

"Ray? We need to call the police." 

"Just wait a moment." He turned to Ava, a frown on his face but not nearly looking as angry as someone who was confronting a robber in their own apartment should look. "What were you looking for? Were you reading my files? Who do you work for? A big company? Are they interested in my inventions?" 

Beyond confused, Ava noticed a shift in Mister Palmer's behavior. He seemed more curious and excited than angry. Clearly Miss Smoak noticed it too.

"What are you doing? You can't just chat with someone who broke into your apartment!" 

Shrugging, Mister Palmer took a few steps towards Miss Smoak and leaned down to her, talking quietly but still quite audibly.

"Why not? Look, ever since I came back, nobody has shown even the slightest interest in my inventions. And now someone is interested enough to break into my apartment! If they have enough money to hire a…" he waved his arm in Ava's direction in a way that she would have found comical if the situation hadn't been so serious, "a spy to get their hands on them, maybe they'd be willing to hire me myself." 

Miss Smoak looked at him as if he had suddenly sprouted another head and Ava was sure if she had just a little less self control she would have looked exactly the same way. Was this man for real? What in the world was he thinking? Not that she was complaining, this could turn out in her favor, but really, who thought like that? 

Clearly not Miss Smoak, who now started talking to Mister Palmer very fast and so quietly that Ava couldn't really understand anything. It wasn't important anyways. Her mind was racing. How could she use this unexpected turn of events to get out of here without the police being called?

Before she could reach any kind of conclusion, Mister Palmer turned back to her. 

"You were here to steal my files, right? My inventions? Someone is actually interested in them?"

It seemed to be very counter intuitive to lie, but then again, it wasn't a total lie, and the less she could involve the Time Bureau the better. Who knew what Mister Palmer would do if he found out that Director Hunter had sent her to spy on him, not because he was interested in his inventions but because he wanted to prevent the Legends from further breaking time, or anything else for that matter.

For now, she decided the best path to not have to go to the police but still not tell an outright lie would be to remain vague. And Mister Palmer's enthusiasm gave her a welcome idea as to how to do that. She started with a slight nod and cleared her throat.

"Well, I mean, they are fascinating. I was supposed to just get in and out, but I got distracted by your inventions and your adventures." 

See, that wasn't that bad, not even a lie at all, and with the way Mister Palmer's face lit up, it apparently had been the right thing to say. 

"What is your favorite-"

Before he could say anything more, he was interrupted by Miss Smoak, who sported a huge frown on her face, still looking incredulously at him. 

"Really? Now you're gonna talk about your inventions. Next thing, you're inviting her to lunch."

Mister Palmer seemed to completely miss the sarcasm. A wide smile appeared on his face.

"You know, that's actually not a bad idea." He ignored Miss Smoak's indignant gasp and addressed Ava. "Would you want to come to lunch? Nate and Amaya will be there too and possibly even Sara, so everyone can tell you about my suit and other inventions in action."

"Okay, stop. Right there. What the hell are you doing?"

This time, Miss Smoak didn't even try to lower her voice or take Mister Palmer aside. Ava had still no idea what was going on, but apparently calling the police wasn't much on the table anymore, at least not as far as Mister Palmer was concerned, so that was a good thing for her.

"What? She didn't actually steal anything," he turned to Ava again, a small frown on his face, "you didn't, did you?" The only thing Ava could do was shake her head, still completely baffled by this man. "See. And I doubt she's gonna hurt anyone, I mean, look at her." 

In any other situation, Ava would have been insulted by that, but right now, seeming harmless could only work in her favour. 

"How the hell do you know that? She could be a serial killer or something."

Now Mister Palmer laughed a little, dryly.

"I doubt that very much. If she wanted to kill us, she would have already done so, right?" For some reason, he addressed Ava again, who nodded, absolutely unsure what was required of her here, feeling more and more as if she was in some sort of surreal play or something. He nodded, seemingly satisfied with that. "Also, we will be in public the entire time. This way, I can find out who is interested in my inventions, without having to involve the police and risk alienating them."

"Alienating them? Alienating the people who sent a robber into your apartment. Ray do you even hear what you are saying?" 

"Come on, Felicity. I've got nothing to lose. It's not like I still have a company."

This seemed to aggravate Felicity at first and then just make her sad.

"Oh, that was a low blow."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I just mean, if there is a chance to do something else than working for a douche bag who owns a glorified dating app, I would gladly take it, even if it comes from a dubious source."

Now Miss Smoak held her hands up in some sort of surrender.

"You know what Ray, you want to have lunch with a robber, let's have lunch with a robber. You're right, we'll be in public. As long as we all keep our eyes on our wallets and phones." She looked at Ava still very distrustful. "Are we gonna have to search you to make sure you didn't steal anything?" 

"Felicity, come on."

"What? Do you want your inventions to be marketed by someone else without even involving you? That's your goal here isn't it? To be involved? If she took something that's not gonna happen."

This time, Ava did know what to say, having used the last couple of minutes to regain a little bit of her composure. 

"I promise, I did not take anything." Clearly, Miss Smoak did not believe her, seeing that she just scoffed at that. Following the hope that she might get out of this without a scandal, Ava turned her pants pockets inside out. Thankfully, she hadn't taken anything that could be deemed suspicious, even leaving the Time Bureau pin, her phone and the communicator at the office. Her time courier could hopefully pass as a normal, if fancy watch. "I do not even have a phone with me." She also opened her jacket and showed all the pockets there. "There is no way I could have taken anything."

Mister Palmer seemed to grow uncomfortable with this display and explicitly turned to Miss Smoak. 

"See? She didn't take anything, she's not going to take anything and we can just have a civilized conversation about my inventions during lunch. Right?" 

Now he looked back at her, and something in her eyes made her want to tell him the truth right there. They were so trusting, so... good. But she knew Miss Smoak would most likely still call the police if she did that and then a scandal would still be unavoidable, so instead she just nodded.

Lunch didn't sound that bad after all. Even if it was with the Legends, something that went against all regulations and something she never thought she would do in her life.

Her last thought before they left was that if that was the price to avoid the police and a black mark on her record, then somehow, she would get through it.

And then it all turned out differently than she could have ever imagined. They went to the restaurant that had been in walking distance, met with Mister Heywood and Miss Jiwe, who were apparently quietly informed by Miss Smoak as to who exactly she was and seemed to want to protest but were stopped by her. 

Mister Palmer had been cheerful and happy the entire time, chatting away about his inventions and their adventures, and Ava had to admit that she had started to actually enjoy herself.

It was uncanny and very confusing to her, because after two hours spent with these feeling driven train wrecks of human beings who wouldn't know a tactical analysis when it crawled up their butts and said hello to their livers (well, at least the two men didn't and apparently their influence was strong enough for Miss Jiwe, who seemed much more reasonable, to follow their lead for whatever reason), she should be even more convinced that Director Hunter had been right, that the Legends were nothing but trouble.

But for some ridiculous reason, she wasn't. Instead, she found herself actually enjoying their company. Maybe it was partly because of Miss Smoak, but only partly. No, it was the Legends themselves she found were very easy to talk to and joke with as if she had known them for years and not just for a few hours (thankfully for the most parts, the conversation stayed far away from the topic of her occupation and what she had done in Mister Palmer's apartment earlier). 

And if that wasn't already shocking enough, she found herself inexplicably drawn to the head of the Legends, the worst of the bunch, after having only just met her ten minutes ago, as she had come to lunch unexpectedly and late.

Sara Lance. Talked about in the Time Bureau only in hushed tones and only ever as bad example. Infamous Captain of the Legends, who never planned anything, always went headfirst into every situation and usually didn't get out without cracking a whole lot of heads.

Sara Lance, who had pretty much single-handedly broken all of time, causing Ava and countless other agents to meticulously study her tactics, or rather lack thereof, for years, tearing them apart at the seams and learning how to do the exact opposite.

Sara Lance, whose fighting style Ava had emulated for five years, training every single day, trying to show everyone, Director Hunter, the Bureau and herself, that she could be a better version of this reckless, thoughtless Captain whose blunder was the reason they were all doing what they were doing.

Sara Lance, whose handshake had been as warm as her smile, who was currently sitting right in front of Ava, looking at her with a little twinkle in her soft, smiling eyes.

Sara Lance. It felt like Ava had prepared her whole life to meet her, and now that she had, everything was different.

Instead of the arrogance and animosity she had expected, she was met with warmth and humor towards her team that was so genuine and heartfelt that Ava forgot for a second who this person actually was and felt a longing she had never felt before.

A longing that had already begun while talking to the legends, or rather, listening to them. A longing that was inexplicable to her.

She didn't need this. She didn't need friends to talk to, share inside jokes with, be comfortable with. She had stopped with that childish nonsense years ago, long before she had even started working for the Time Bureau.

All of those sentimental things were a burden, unimportant. The only thing that mattered was her work, being efficient, being the best. Friendships just stood in the way of that.

It wasn't like she had never had friends, she did, but it had never been important enough for her to keep in contact, to actually want to talk to them after a few years of not seeing them. A close bond such as what she could see here had always seemed unappealing to her, weird. Even her parents were more like polite strangers, people she saw at important holidays but never actually had much of a desire to talk to or spend time with.

It just wasn't worth it to try and befriend people seeing that her first priority would always be her work. And she didn't even want friends. Especially not such a messed up group as the legends.

And yet...


End file.
